The Antennae Galaxy

The Antennae Galaxy (sometimes called the Ringtail Galaxy) was formed by the collision of two spiral galaxies (NGC4038 and NGC4039) some 63 million light years from Earth (located in the direction of Corvus or "the Raven" constellation in the southern sky). It is surmised that an increase in the density of interstellar gas at the time of collision gave birth to countless new star clusters.

Conventional observation from the Earth's surface had only been able to detect the two long antenna-like arms extending from the galaxy nucleus. From its orbit of Earth, however, the Hubble Space Telescope has been clearly able to identify the detailed nature of this galaxy collision.

The image above shows the total chaos in the central collision of the galaxies.